Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Forget The Band, Listen To The Drums

One day, my hope is politics- or more correctly how citizens weigh political considerations- becomes primarily a conversation of practical expressions rather the useless banter that now dominates. Currently, every issue is reduced to dueling arguments, whatever objective truth exists largely lost in the noise, this reality now a tried and true political tactic to present confusion as the end game. There is only one way to ascertain the "real story", but this involves a level of inspection most people can't devote, it takes a lot of energy and motivation to sift through the stench of partisan bull. I submit, the "noise" is a major contributing factor to voter apathy, a decided turnoff that renders an honest undertaking almost impossible, to the point of seeing the political world as a place that bears no relationship to the one we inhabit.

The Auditor General issued a report on the F-35. The opposition seized on it and went on the attack. Because the AG is considered "objective", the government took the only path available and "embraced" the recommendations, "accepted" what he said and vowed to open up the process, bring in accountability and move forward responsibly. The argument has devolved within these parameters, a back and forth, one trying to make it stick, the other walking a tightrope and countering with their own talking points. Money has been spent, money hasn't been spent, contracts have been signed, contracts haven't been signed, you knew the real numbers, there are different numbers, you can't include those numbers, how can you not include those numbers. Enter the public, again, besides the diehards like myself, one can't really begrudge anyone for throwing their hands up in the air and tuning it all out, the noise just that.

What needs to happen is quite simple, our sensibilities need to evolve to a state where the noise isn't just ignored, but we seek the practicality. We do what we do now, tune out the CRAP, but we find the back beat, simple and true, it exists in every song, it exists in every issue. Back to the F-35 debate, we welcome the Auditor General's report, we accept his recommendation, we have nothing to hide, lots of sounds but the back beat is out of time:

"Tories try to stall auditor’s testimony on costly F-35 purchase"

Isn't it perfect? The practicality, not a dueling talking point, not noise, but a concrete expression that gets us to some semblance of truth. You accept the AG report, you welcome the suggestions, you pledge to be OPEN and TRANSPARENT moving forward, but when forced to ACT, you reveal yourself, you contradict everything you've said, your hypocrisy is there and it is unambiguous. There is no debate here, the practical expression supersedes, you can't reconcile, there it is, stripped down, the THROBING back beat. It is here we find what TIME it really is, no more inspection required, a simplicity that will always exist.